Cabeza de Vaca (1991)

Director:

Nicolás Echevarría

Writers:

Nicolás Echevarría (writer)
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (novel)

Release Date:

17 April 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History

Plot:

An international award winning saga of old Mexico. In 1528, a Spanish expedition founders off the coast of Florida with 600 lives lost...

Plot Keywords:

Native Americans Adopt White Man | Captive | Mexico | Shaman | Dwarf

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Juan Diego	...	Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Daniel Giménez Cacho	...	Dorantes
Roberto Sosa	...	Cascabel / Araino
Carlos Castañón	...	Castillo
Gerardo Villarreal	...	Estebanico
Roberto Cobo	...	Lozoya (as Roberto 'Calambres' Cobo)
José Flores	...	Malacosa
Eli 'Chupadera' Machuca	...	Sorcerer
Farnesio de Bernal	...	Fray Suárez
Josefina Echánove	...	Anciana Avavar
Max Kerlow	...	Man in Armor
Óscar Yoldi	...	Esquivel
Ramón Barragán	...	Pánfilo de Narváez
Julio Solórzano Foppa	...	Alcaraz
Javier Escobar Villarreal	...	Young Iguase Indian

Runtime:

Mexico:112 min | USA:111 min

Country:

Mexico | Spain | USA | UK

Language:

Spanish | Latin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Coahuíla, Mexico

Company:

American Playhouse

Trivia:

The huge figure of a naked man wielding a club which is created by the Indian sorcerer is an accurate representation of the ancient Celtic chalk carving known as the Cerne Abbas Giant, which is 60 metres in height and is located on a hillside overlooking the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Conquistadors (2000) (TV)

Spectacular visuals lend the film the power of myth

One chapter of the conquista - the subjugation of the Native American peoples by Europeans. We follow Alvaro Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's adventures and misadventures in the New World from a crash landing of his ship through his saving and capture by the Indians, his forced immersion into the Indian culture, his almost mystical pilgrimage from Florida through the American Southwest to California (or was it Mexico?), up to the bitter end at the hands of his European compatriots. Spectacular visuals lend the film the power of myth, but this is still more realistic depiction of the tragic clash of the cultures in the 16th century America than all the Hollywood productions, including Roland Joffe's "The Mission (1986)" (which, by the way, I do like). The only feature film with this topic that I consider equal, or perhaps even superior, is "Jerico (1988)" made by a Venezuelan ethnography professor Luis Alberto Lamata.